


Sleeplessly Embracing

by hollowers



Category: Red Dead Redemption
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cuddling (I guess), Dreams, Epilogue, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, So have this instead, We're feeling sad in this Chili's tonight, Writing anything longer than 800 words still fucks me up real bad, spoilers for the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 19:52:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16817335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollowers/pseuds/hollowers
Summary: He knows it's a dream even before anything of note happens.





	Sleeplessly Embracing

He knows it's a dream even before anything of note happens.

It's a dream because the sunlight is never quite so gentle in the desert, the dust dancing on the beam rope never quite so still. The binds aren't closed, not wholly like they usually are: Abigail needs complete darkness to be able to fall asleep.

"You're awake." A soft, gruff murmur, just as John notices there's an arm slung over his bare waist. "Mornin'."

Slowly he turns around, the arm lifting slightly to allow him to face the man in his bed, only half-covered by the thin, old, somehow too pristine duvet.

He's smiling, and John's chest aches dull. He needs to close his eyes, if just for a minute. The bedsheets rustle as the man shifts, speaks in low tones. "Hey, hey what's wrong? It ain't worth crying over."

John gives a watery laugh, and Arthur thumbs the tears away. If this was real, he'd have slapped the hand away. But it's not, it's not, and he can savor the touch that doesn't feel like anything. "'Course not."

The teal eyes are tired. Tired, but devoid of the redness, the dark and purple circles under them. They shine in the morning light like the water at Aurora basin in midsummer, and John presses his head back to the pillows.

He lets his hand travel, to run along the skin of Arthur's broad shoulder, the subtle rise of his collarbone. To faintly run through his hair, the hay strands bathing in gold and ivory. He can almost feel the familiarity of his skin, the scars of wounds both new and long forgotten.

He can feel his eyelids flutter as he looks at Arthur, tears threatening to spill oh so gently as they paint his eyes with a feel like a lake's surface. It should make him angry. It doesn't.

Arthur looks at him like he was worth the sacrifice. He squeezes his eyes shut, rests his fingers on Arthur's jaw.

It's nothing more than a whisper, barely loud enough in the perfect quiet.  
"I miss you."

Even dreams eventually fade in time.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back after a long break. Still not a better writer by much, but... Eh?
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!  
> Tumblr is Vaellusvitutus if you got prompts or just wanna chat :)


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